Maersk, the General Authority for Suez Canal Economic Zone (SCZone), the Egyptian New and Renewable Energy Authority (NREA), the Egyptian Electricity Transmission Company (EETC), and the Sovereign Fund of Egypt for Investment and Development (TSFE), have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) in a joint bid to further accelerate the supply of green fuels and the global transformation to net-zero shipping.
The new partnership, signed in the presence of the Egyptian Prime Mnister, follows six fuel sourcing partnerships announced earlier this month.
Henriette Hallberg Thygesen, CEO, Fleet & Strategic Brands, Maersk, said: “Egypt has excellent conditions for renewable energy production and ambitions to become global leader in the green energy value chain. We are very excited to be able to explore options together, drawing on our more than 100 years of business relations in the country.“
The parties will be conducting a feasibility study before the end of 2022 to examine an Egypt-based hydrogen and green marine fuel production facility, powered by renewable energy with Maersk as committed offtaker.
Thygesen added: “The availability of green energy and fuel in sufficient quantities and at cost competitive price levels is the single biggest challenge to the decarbonisation of global shipping. For Maersk, our recently announced strategic partnerships with six industry leading companies are key in addressing this challenge, but to stay on the 1.5-degree pathway even more scale is needed within this decade. That is what this partnership is exploring.”
Eng Yhia Zaki, Chairman, SCZone, said: “Capitalising on Egypt’s fundamentals and vision, SCZone’s strategic integrated areas of ports and industrial parks around the Suez Canal, and leveraging on the solid and enduring longstanding relationship we have with Maersk, I am looking forward to the evolvement of this project, which meets our mutual target of transforming into the green economy.”
Ayman Soliman, CEO Sovereign Fund of Egypt, said: “This partnership presents a unique opportunity to strengthen a longstanding relationship with a key strategic partner to the Egyptian Government over the last 100 years. Specifically for The Sovereign Fund of Egypt, this potential opportunity adds a new dimension to our roadmap towards zero emission targets. Maersk’s bid to accelerate the supply of green fuels and the global transformation to net-zero shipping will expand the Suez Canal’s service offering as a main global hub for green bunkering in the region.”
Maersk intends to explore similar opportunities in other regions with strong potential for renewable energy development, drawing on business and governmental relations to facilitate opportunities for nations and commercial players to embrace the rapid acceleration in green fuel production that is key to the decarbonisation of shipping.
